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grounding my engine driven welder

10-08-2008, 06:32 AM

also posted in welding disc., hoping to get a variety of ideas: my welder is mounted on a slide out cargo bed and am lacking in confidence with ideas to ground my welder engine. would like to believe the unibody type frame of 08 350 truck would allow me to connect a ground wire from the welder engine battery to just about anywhere on truck body/frame. any professional advice would be very helpful and much appreciated

All trucks are body over frame not unibody. You should be able to conect th ground wire any where on the chssie, engine block or flat bed you want, not sure what you are looking to achive please elaborate.

This is an automotive discussion forum that has some great infromation

Comment

Actually Ford made some unibody trucks in the 60s. All the ones I've seen recently have been body-on-frame. You said "unibody type frame" which is a contradiction in terms. I'm assuming your truck is body-on-frame.

Are you trying to use the bed of the truck as a worktable and not use a ground clamp on your workpiece? I assume you don't have a factory bed. You'd probably burn holes in the thin metal. The bed of a truck is simply set on the frame. Many times there are rubber sheets laid between the bed and frame so the only electrical connection is via the bolts. If you connect your welder ground lead to the frame you may not get a good connection to the bed and your workpiece. You want the current running through your workpiece not the truck. I would connect the ground lead directly to the bed. It's better to have the ground connection as close to the work as possible, but if you have a steel plate for the bed you can probably connect anywhere on it and it'll work ok. You might as well connect directly beside/under your welder to keep the cable tidy and out of the way. I'd drill a hole through the plate. Sand off the paint around the hole. Weld a 1/2" or larger nut on the underside of the hole. Put a terminal lug on your welder ground lead and bolt it to the bed through this hole. You can probably repaint the area after you tighten down the bolt. You may have to remove the bolt and clean the rust every year or so. You can also make a ground lead with a ground clamp on one end and a terminal lug on the other. Connect this lead to the bed with the same bolt. Now you can lay small parts on the bed and just start welding. Or unwind the ground clamp for larger pieces.

Comment

The grounding you are concerned with is from the frame of the welder to the truck bed. If its bolted solid then you are good to go. Basically this is a scenario for a pinched wire from a cord and you want the chassis you are on and the machine at the same potential say you pinch a hot wire from a cord to the bed it needs fault protection back to the generating source. Say they were not bonded together, you have this fault that wont clear, 120v to the bed and you grabbed it and switched off or touch the welder, you could be the link. Bolt welder to bed or run a number 8 wire to it from machine frame.

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I found this thread very useful, as I was worried about putting my welder in the back of my Titan truck. Should I do anything different for a regular pickup truck like my Titan. I suck when it comes to wiring crap up, and usually shock the living bejessus out of myself everytime. I dont do electricity as you see, except for stringing the christmas lights on my roof which I fall off every year.

Comment

Thanks MAC, but I dont think the TB302 frame is design as a ground. On the front of the TB302 panel, there is a spot marked ground with a nut and washers to connect a ground. Im gonna call miller to see if the TB302's bottom mounting bolts and frame will act as a ground. I will post the info into this thread for TB302 owners, and for future reference.

If you want peace, be prepared for war!

Comment

Thanks MAC, but I dont think the TB302 frame is design as a ground. On the front of the TB302 panel, there is a spot marked ground with a nut and washers to connect a ground. Im gonna call miller to see if the TB302's bottom mounting bolts and frame will act as a ground. I will post the info into this thread for TB302 owners, and for future reference.

Comment

Thanks MAC, but I dont think the TB302 frame is design as a ground. On the front of the TB302 panel, there is a spot marked ground with a nut and washers to connect a ground. Im gonna call miller to see if the TB302's bottom mounting bolts and frame will act as a ground. I will post the info into this thread for TB302 owners, and for future reference.

They get tired of this call. There is no dispute here about whether the frame is grounded or not, it is. Look at the stud, bonded to the frame. Same for the schematic, shows it bonded.

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Thanks Sberry, is the schematic in my original instructions for the TB302. If so I gotta learn to read the instructions to things more often. I could care less about myself, but I worry about, possibly shocking and injuring someone around me, so Id like to ground her right. Thanks,

Joe

If you want peace, be prepared for war!

Comment

Take a continuity tester and check it. I believe there is a drilled and tapped hole in the frame marked with the symbol on my SA for a ground connection. I think the stud on these other machines is simply that, a bolt to make a convenient connection to the frame. Probably some NEMA code says it has to be marked with a symbol, etc.

Comment

Take a continuity tester and check it. I believe there is a drilled and tapped hole in the frame marked with the symbol on my SA for a ground connection. I think the stud on these other machines is simply that, a bolt to make a convenient connection to the frame. Probably some NEMA code says it has to be marked with a symbol, etc.

Sorry if I sound stupid, but what should the reading be on the continuity tester. I have one, but all I know how to do is check outlets. What is the correct reading when I test it, if it is a grounding spot, and should I have the welder running when I test it?. Sorry for all the questions, but I told you guys I suck when it comes to messin with electricity. Thanks for your help buddy.